


Who's Gonna Drive You Home, Tonight?

by Mcdeaks



Category: Original Work
Genre: And A Self Insert, F/M, My First AO3 Post, Slow Burn, please leave feedback!, this is basically an outlet since i am single ;-;
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-10-29 01:21:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20788229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mcdeaks/pseuds/Mcdeaks
Summary: Sophie spends eighty minutes a day driving to and from work. It's her time to yell at other drivers, slam on her brakes, and belt out to her favorite tunes. The privacy of her car keeps her fear or vulnerability in check, so when she offers to drive a coworker to work also, will she keep her guard up or become comfortable letting others hear her belt out to some 80's tunes?Matt has just started a new chapter of his life; leaving his friends and family in Sunny California for the unpredictable weather of Chaotic Colorado. His fear of asking for things makes this adjustment hard, and he knows he should change. When a coworker offers to drive him to and from work each day, does he ask for her help getting used to Colorado or does he decline and keep paying hefty Uber fees?





	1. "What floor?"

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story I've ever written (for fun)! Not technically a fanfic, but I do imagine Matt's hair being like Mr. Joe Mazzello's (except with more of a hairline (sorry Joe)). Feedback and comments are welcome!

_“You’re so fine,_

_Lose my mind,_

_And the world seems to disappear. _

_All the problems,_

_All the fears,_

_And the world seems to disappear.”_

Sophie passionately sang along to the words, gazing at a building opposite her at the intersection. She tapped her hands against the steering wheel, in time with the drums. Michael Hutchence’s voice serenaded her through the speakers of her car, the bass causing it to vibrate slightly. Sophie was completely immersed in the music. She relished in the ways the melody filled her. It wasn’t until a blaring honk came from behind her that she realized the turn light was green. Grumbling, she turned left through the intersection. It wasn’t the first time she had zoned out while stopped at an intersection on her way to work, but it was the first time she had been honked at.

The INXS song that had her so enraptured was one of over two hundred songs on her main driving playlist. Spending two forty-minute commutes a day listening to a radio station filled with ads, one-sided conversations, and songs she didn’t care for wasn’t how she wanted to spend her commute. So, Sophie spent half an hour every few months revamping the playlist on her phone so that there would be at least _some_ enjoyment while she drove to work.

In addition to enjoyment, her music was calming for her. Sophie had inherited the _road rage gene_ from her mother. She was never physical or dangerous, but she would stop singing halfway through a song to call another driver a colorful name or express confusion as to what they were doing. Either way, it was a bad habit that Sophie knew that she had to break.

Because of that, she hated driving other people. She didn’t want them to see her that way. Another reason why she hated driving with others was that she loved to sing to her music, and didn’t want people to hear her sing or hear her music. Music was very personal to her, and she was very self-conscious of her singing voice. She didn’t like to be vulnerable with others, and having people invade her “personal time” was a one-way ticket to Vulnerable Station.

Continuing to sing the words to “Disappear”, Sophie soon pulled into the parking lot of her building and parked near a large oak tree. As the song neared its end, Sophie waited, hand on the key, ready to turn the car off with the music. When it did end, she turned and pulled the key out of the ignition with a flourish, feeling satisfied with how nicely that turned out. Grabbing her purse and lunch bag, she locked her car and headed to the building.

\----------{_}----------

_“Photograph, I don’t want your_

_Photograph, I don’t need your_

_Photograph, all I’ve got is a photograph_

_But it’s not enough.”_

Matt gazed out of the back window, watching the scenery go by. _Soon,_ he thought, _I’ll have all of this memorized_.

Last week he made the move to Colorado from California and had a_ lot_ to get used to. He had watched his Uber drivers stick to the speed limit on the interstate, not speeding around each other in a hurry to get to where they needed to be. A few had also warned him to not strictly listen to any weather forecasts, citing the unpredictable weather Colorado was viable to get. This would be a big adjustment, but he was ready for it.

As Def Leppard faded out of his earbuds, he blinked and brought his attention back to what was happening past the windshield. Cars in the lanes to the left of them were going about as fast as the cars in the right lane to the right of him: crawling, if that. He let out a soft sigh and looked down at his phone. Sixty-seven percent, he’d have to charge his phone when he got to work. Matt dug around in his messenger bag and he felt his heart drop in his chest. He had left his charger plugged in at the kitchen counter. Last night instead of going to get the charger from his room, he used the one from his bag. This meant Matt would have to ask to borrow someone’s when he got to work.

Matt _hated_ asking people for things, whether it was needing help on a project or to move over a bit so he could get by. He didn’t want to seem like a bother, something he felt when he had to ask his _very_ busy parents things. He preferred to figure things out himself, even if it had led him to trouble quite a few times. He knew it was a problem, especially since he had just moved to a new state with a new job.

A building that Matt was beginning to recognize as his workplace came up alongside his right as the driver slowed to a stop.

“Thanks, man. Have a good one,” Matt said as he climbed out of the back of the small sedan. Clutching his messenger bag, he ran to the front doors, just in time to open one for a young woman with a soft smile on her face.

\----------{_}----------

As Sophie walked towards the front doors of the building, a frazzled looking young man dashed up and hastily opened one of the doors, just in time for her to walk through. He made an “after you” gesture, to which Sophie said a quick thank you. The unexpectedness of his gesture made her smile grow bigger than the smug smile she had after successfully turning off her car to the music a minute ago. After she was in the building, the man followed after her. She pressed the elevator up button and stood to the side. The mad sidled next to her. He was taller and larger than her. Sophie became more aware of her actions, feeling intimidated by his form. She looked down at the very interesting tile that blanketed the entry floor.

Soon the elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing an empty elevator. Sophie and the man walked in.

“What floor?” Sophie asked after hitting the button for floor three.

“I think four. That’s where IT is, right?” the man sheepishly asked.

“Yep. Are you new? I haven’t seen you around before. And I have a lot of computer issues.”

“Yeah, Just started a few days ago. Still getting used to everything about Colorado also.”

The elevator doors closed, and slowly the elevator began to climb.

“Oh, where are you from?” Sophie asked, knowing that this conversation would benefit her later.

“Central California. Born and raised there,” the man replied, the sheepishness fading.

“Oh, how cool. My family is from Northern California, but I was raised here.

Talk about the towns they were from continued until the elevator slowly reached floor three.

“Well, this is my stop. It was nice to meet you…” Sophie said, realizing she never asked for his name.

“My name is Matt. And it was nice to meet you too…”

“Sophia. But everyone calls me Sophie. I work in parks planning.”

“Ah, well it’s nice to meet you, Sophie. I’ll see you around?” Matt said a small grin on his face.

“Probably. Like I said, lots of computer problems,” Sophie sighed, with a bigger grin.

The elevator doors closed, taking Matt up to the next floor and leaving Sophie in the foyer of her own. Sighing, she walked to her office with a little more spring in her step.

\----------{_}----------

When he reached the IT office, Matt’s boss, Clyde, was already there, reading an article on his computer. Matt set his stuff at his desk, turning on his computer for the day.

“How was your commute, Matt?” Clyde mused, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“About as well as I would think a Thursday commute is like,” a heavy sigh followed the sentence, causing Clyde to break his concentration and turn to him.

“Yeah, I can’t imagine it was any different than California,” Clyde stood up and went to open the shades on the windows, illuminating the room.

“Fewer lanes, but same speed,” chuckled Matt, taking a seat at his desk. Opening the IT email, he scanned the unread emails, looking for anything urgent or interesting to start his day.

By the time he looked at the clock, it was almost noon, three hours after he first sat in his chair. Being in the IT department for the whole city government kept him busy, but he knew what he was doing mostly.

Clyde came over a little after noon and told him to go take lunch.

Matt took the elevator down and went out to the outdoor patio he saw earlier in the week. The forecast had claimed sunny weather and reasonable temperatures today, so he decided to trust it.

When he looked around the patio looking for an empty table, he found that each table had at least one person at it, most he didn’t recognize. At the far end of the patio, he saw Sophie, eating her lunch and watching the pond beyond the edge of the property. Taking a deep breath, he made his way over to her table, his lunch in one hand and his phone in the other, both getting damp from sweat.

\----------{_}----------

Not a moment after Sophie sat down in her office chair, her office door swung open. The culprit was Allison, her counterpart in city planning.

“You didn’t say hi to me!” Allison cried as she gently shut the door and draped herself in a chair opposite Sophie.

“Sorry, I was a little preoccupied,” Sophie muttered as she logged into her computer.

“You’re always preoccupied. This was different. What happened between yesterday evening and ten minutes ago?” Allison demanded, sitting up in the chair. “Also, you need better chairs in here.”

“I know I do, you always tell me that. And nothing happened. I just happened to meet the new IT worker this morning. Nothing special,” Sophie sighed, feeling her face heat up from Allison’s intense stare.

“That is NOT nothing! You met someone! And judging by your blush, he’s cute,” Allison teased, crossing her arms in triumph.

“You’re staring at me, that’s why I’m blushing. And maybe he is a little cute, but that’s not the point.”

“Okay, so what is the point? Is it that you met someone who you could feasibly be friends with? Because we both know you need that.”

“Don’t you have a proposal to finish, _Allison_?”

“Maybe I do, _Sophia_. Talk. To. Him.”

Sophie threw a paper clip after Allison as she left her office. She then absentmindedly stared at the _pothos_ in the corner of her office. _Did she have a chance at another friend?_

Working on her own proposal for new flower beds at the nearby city park, Sophie tuned out the world until eleven-thirty, when a phone call interrupted her focus.

“Hey, I won’t be able to make it to lunch. _Someone_ pointed out an error in the scale so now I have to fix the whole thing before four today,” Allison’s stressed voice came out through the receiver.

“Better it was caught than glossed over I guess. I’ll send you the memes I was going to show you then. Work or personal email?” Sophie replied, tapping a sticky note with the tip of her pen.

“Personal if it's raunchy. Okay, I gotta go. I’ll send you a few in response also. Bye.”

“Okay, bye. Don’t kill anyone!” Sophie warned as she penned out a note, “Send Al memes on personal”, on a sticky note and stuck it to her monitor, adding to the twenty notes already there. After being broken from her “zone”, she decided to check her email and social media until noon came around. The minute it turned twelve, she grabbed her lunch and phone and headed towards the elevator, determined to get her favorite table before anyone from Public Relations did.

The fresh summer air greeted Sophie as she left the building. Her favorite table was farthest away from the building, right next to an elm tree, the same species that she parked under. It had a clear view of the man-made pond that was created for the city government, and she had the delight of protecting it from everything that could take it away from her; disease, development (not that Allison would ever develop there), or just lack of upkeep.

Sophie had just started to dig into her cold pasta when a voice came up behind her.


	2. "Need a Charge?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's get Driving!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there are totes some minecraft references because that's all I've been able to do for the last week or so.  
feedback is always appreciated!

“Hey, may I join you today?” A nervous quiver was noticeable in Matt’s voice as he reached Sophie’s table.

“Absolutely, my friend has a project due so she’s working through lunch. Take a seat!” Sophie’s face lit up when she realized it was Matt, causing him to smile in relief.

He sat down a couple of seats away at the round picnic table. 

What kind of project is it?” he asked, opening his paper bag and pulled out a piece of cold pizza.

“Some city planning thing. One of her coworkers pointed out a scaling problem so they have to redo the design before four today.” Sophie started to dig into her lunch, a container of cold pasta.

For a while, they sat and ate in silence, listening to the murmur of people eating their lunches at the tables around them.

“So, how are you liking Colorado so far?” Sophie asked, holding her hand over her mouth as she finished chewing.

Matt stopped to think. He’d been here a week, and most of his time was either going to work, at work, or home unpacking.

“From what I’ve seen during my Uber rides to and from work, I like it so far,” he replied, turning to look at Sophie. Her ash blonde hair fell softly on her shoulders, kept out of her face by a delicate metal hairband. Matt felt some heat reach his face and quickly turned back to his pizza.

“How long is your commute?” Sophie added, turning her attention to some sliced bell peppers she pulled from her bag.

Matt let out a long sigh. “About forty minutes each way.”  
“I take it you’re in Paulson?”

“Yeah, the only place I could afford.”

“I’m out there too. What side of the river are you on?”

“Uh… the east side. By that sketchy looking Shell gas station.”

An intense look of concentration came over Sophie as she stared off towards the pond. Had Matt said something wrong? Was that shell gas station the nicest one in town?

“I-I’m also on the east side. We could probably carpool if you’d like. I mean- only if you want to. I’m sure that it will be cheaper than Ubers twice a day,” Sophie said, hastily added that last part. 

“That would be great actually, thanks.”

“No problem. Are you out at five then?”

“Yeah, are you?”

“Yeah.”

Silence overcame them once again. Matt felt the urge to grin overcome him, but he smothered it by pursing his lips in a tight smile. He continued to eat his lunch, eating some pretzels as quietly as possible. He stole a glance at Sophie once or twice, and he could tell that she was also wanting to smile.

“So what is Environmental Planning?”

Lunch with Matt continued pleasantly after Sophie’s sudden offer to carpool with him. She didn’t know what had overcome her. As much as she loved driving, she got incredibly nervous driving other people. Driving to and from work was eighty minutes of her alone, singing full volume with her music, letting out any frustrations or anxieties or joys that she was feeling. Now she would have someone else in the car, someone she barely knew.

After they finished their lunches, they made their way back into the building, heading toward the elevator.

“You go ahead, I have to make sure my front seat is cleaned out. Bad habit of eating on the go,” Sophie said bashfully.

“Okay, you don’t have to go through all that trouble. But I’ll see you after five. Should we meet down here?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Awesome, I’ll see you then,” Matt called as the elevator doors began to close.

“Sounds good!” She replied, almost too late.

Taking a deep breath, Sophie headed out the front door, unsure of what she would find in her car.

Thankfully, there hadn’t been too much trash or junk in her 2010 Camry. A couple of plates and forks, an oily Wendy’s bag, a fossilized grilled cheese, and other small pieces of trash were now stashed in a trash bag in her trunk. And it had only taken her seven minutes to collect it, drop both forks on the ground, mess up her tucked in blouse, fix her untucked blouse, and use the emergency comb she kept in the glove box to fix her hair. She made it back to her office just before it turned one.

Focusing on her work was harder than it was that morning. The prospect of driving Matt home from work both scared and  _ slightly _ excited her. From her two conversations with him, he seemed to be nice and possibly funny. When she subtly referenced a John Mulaney bit, he chuckled and finished the bit under his breath, which made her laugh. His soft brown hair ruffled in the breeze. His hazel eyes seemed to twinkle when he- no, she had to stop. She just met him. 

Sophie held her head in her hands. She was being childish. Just because someone was being friendly with her doesn’t mean she can start to fall head over heels for them. Plus, any err in her judgment would fair badly when she drove both of them to and from work.  _ Just be his friend _ , she thought.  _ That's all that you can do for now _ .

Matt’s day continued like a wave. When he was answering emails or phone calls, time flew by and he barely looked at the clock. But if his mind even slightly drifted to Sophie or even lunch, time halted. He thought about how the sunlight caught her hair, how her smile grew when he mentioned a huge rainstorm that hit his town last year, how her laugh rang out after he- no, he had to stop. She had just offered to drive him to and from work, that’s it. He shouldn’t ask for more. Plus, it would look bad to have just started a job and immediately look for a relationship. He needed to continue to make friends and get in with other departments. She could be a friend but nothing more.

He worked on answering more emails and taking more calls. By the time he couldn’t take it anymore, it was almost five. Clyde had already left, citing that his kid needed to be picked up early. Matt stretched in his seat, in an attempt to release his back from the hunched over the position he was in. A rumble of thunder shook the building, and Matt was suddenly aware of the rain pounding the window.  _ I guess Colorado weather really is unpredictable _ , he thought, remembering that the forecast only called for a twenty percent chance of rain that morning.

He grabbed his things and put them into his messenger bag. He went to unlock his phone to check the battery level he had left. The screen stayed black. Matt sighed and stuffed it into the pocket of his messenger bag. He had purposefully neglected to ask to use someone else’s charger, and it had come around to bite him in the end. 

He made his way to the elevator, feeling the anxiety rise in him.  _ Why am I so nervous? I wasn’t the one who came up with the idea, and it’s not like she’s going to take back her offer. _ The whole, molasses-slow, elevator ride down, Matt tried to regain control of his breathing. By the time the doors opened on the ground floor, he seemed calm and collected, even though inside he was a hot mess.

Sophie was standing against the wall opposite the elevators. She was scrolling on her phone with one hand while the other caressed a waist-high leafy plant next to her. She looked up when Matt stepped out of the elevator.

“All set?” She asked, locking her phone and taking her keys out of her pocket.

“Yep, got my bag, got my phone, I’m set,” Matt nervously chuckled.

Together, they walked out the front door, only to halt under the overhang above the entryway. Rain poured down from the sky, creating rivers in the grass and drainage ditch. Low rumbles of thunder came from far away.

Sophie quietly groaned. “You don’t happen to have an umbrella, do you?”

“No, I made the mistake of trusting the weather app today,” He replied, also with a small groan.

“Guess we’ll have to make a run for it. You cool with that?” Sophie looked at him, a slight twinkle in her eyes.

“Yeah, I’ll follow you.”

Sophie quickly shuffled towards the oak tree that she had parked under, Matt not far behind her. Of course, she chose today to park a ways from the building. She used her key fob to unlock the car as they approached. Reaching the car, they hastily opened the front doors and threw themselves in, both holding their bags on their laps. Then the laughing started.

“Well, welcome to Colorado, where Mother Nature is temperamental and the weathermen lie,” Sophie giggled, turning to set her bag in the back seat. Matt stuffed his bag down by his feet, using his hands to comb his wet hair back.

Sophie started the car, making sure to set the defroster on high and turning on her seat warmer.

“You have a seat warmer if you want to use it, the button is on the door.”

“Wow, fancy,” Matt chuckled, pressing the button and settling into the growing warmth. Sophie reached towards the audio controls. She turned the volume down and switched the input from “AUX” to “FM”. Slowly, she turned up the volume up to a reasonable setting, the sound of an “O’Reilly’s” commercial filling the car.

“Okay, you said you lived by the Shell gas station?” Sophie asked, turning the windshield wipers to the second-highest setting.

“Yeah, I think I’m on Jefferson street. I can point it out when we get there. I have it on my phone, but it died earlier and I forgot my charger at home,” Matt exhaled, buckling in.

“You can borrow my charger, is it an Android?”

“Yeah, USB C?”

“Yup.”

As Matt plugged his phone in, Sophie buckled and began to leave the parking lot. With the lack of visibility, pouring rain, and her high anxiety, Sophie drove like she was about ninety years old. As she pulled onto the main road, an awkward silence hung in the air, impenetrable by the continued ads from the radio. Soon, the synth sounds of “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell thumped in the car, despite the volume being set low. Sophie started tapping against the steering wheel, doing the iconic “ _ Dun dun _ ” with the music. She glanced over and saw that Matt was also grooving with the music, well as much as you can do when there’s an awkward silence.

“So, what kind of music do you listen to, Matt?” Sophie asked, stretching out the “so”.

“Uh, well I like stuff kind of all over the board. But I’m kind of a sucker for rock, which now that I’m saying that makes me seem like a stereotype, ‘cause every guy likes rock, you know?” Matt said, fiddling with his phone case.

“Any specific bands or artists?”

“Let’s see, probably The Rolling Stones, Metallica, and Def Leppard,” Matt replied. Sophie noticed that one of his hands was gripping the door handle like a lifeline. 

“Did it ever rain like this out in California?” she asked, in an attempt to calm Matt down.

“Not often. I tried not to go out in it when it was this bad. Is it normal here?”

Sophie softly smiled, slowly braking as they came up to a red light. “During this time of year, yes. It’s monsoon season, which means lots of afternoon thunderstorms. It’s my favorite. But yeah, I do try to avoid driving in it because it’s awful. It’ll end soon though.”

Matt nodded and the conversation stalled. The pounding of rain against the car started to let up, allowing traffic to resume going the normal speed limit. A few more eighties songs played on the radio until Matt spoke up. 

“What music are you into? I take it oldies?” 

“Yeah, sometimes its really broad though. Like I’m a sucker for some Disney music and I also like some of those older oldies, like forties and fifties old.” Sophie made sure to tailor her response in a way that didn’t “reveal” her too much. To Sophie, music was a personal thing. A person’s favorite song says a lot about who they are and how they are doing. When she was in a really bad place in high school, she listened to the more depressing, Donnie Darko version of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World”. As time went on and she started feeling better, it changed to songs with more light-hearted meanings, like “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John. Currently, most of what Sophie listened to was love songs. She wasn’t going to tell this man that she had met this morning that the song that really got her going was “Somebody to Love” by Queen.

“If it’s so broad, what are the two most polar opposite artists you like?” Matt asked. 

Sophie turned to look at him. He had an amused smirk on his face, waiting to see what she came up with.

She scoffed. “Let me think for a minute. Hmm, I’d have to say the two most polar opposite artists that I have on my phone are Black Sabbath and Nat King Cole. But I also have some C418 on there too,” Sophie said, nodding at her answer.

“Black Sabbath? I wouldn’t pen you as the type. And who’s C418?” Matt asked, turning to face her.

Sophie felt her face heat up and looked out the windshield at the road ahead. “Okay, I only have one Black Sabbath song on my phone, and it’s “Iron Man”. And as for C418, you have to promise you won’t judge.” Matt promised, and she continued, “C418 is the musician who- who composed the music for Minecraft.”

A stifling moment passed until Matt reacted. “Might I ask why Minecraft music?”

“It’s calming and video game music is supposed to help you focus, so I listen to it when I’m working sometimes. Plus, Minecraft kind of slaps.” Sophie’s face continued to heat up, and she gripped the wheel tighter. 

“So I take it you play?”

“Yeah, I usually go on for a little bit after work. I sometimes use it to plan out my designs, even though it’s technically too big for being accurate. Do you?”

Matt turned to look out the windshield, contemplating something.

“I played like a couple of years back, but work got in the way and I haven’t played since then. I was very much a ‘red-stone engineer’. It’s actually how I chose to major in computer science.”

Sophie released her grip on the steering wheel. He didn’t make fun of her. Her anxiety calmed down. She reached over to turn up the music a little, to mask the deep breath she took.

The rest of the drive continued rather uneventfully. Sophie was a pretty good driver in Matt’s eyes. She watched her speed carefully, making sure not to stray more than five miles above the posted speed limit. She braked early, and any full stops they came to were soft and not jarring like some Uber drivers Matt had had. There were a few instances when someone braked too hard or cut Sophie off where she let out a firm sigh of frustration. But as time went on, Matt felt more comfortable riding with Sophie. And as they reached the east side of Paulson, he felt a little sad about leaving her.

“Okay, what street was it?” Sophie asked as they rolled up to a two way stop.

“I think it was Jefferson. This is starting to look familiar.”

“Okay, I think that’s the street behind the Shell.”

When they did manage to find his building, Sophie parallel parked right outside.

“You know,” said Matt as he unplugged and turned on his phone, “I should give you my number so that we can communicate if one of us is going to be late or something.”

“Oh yeah, that will probably be helpful.”

After exchanging numbers, Matt got his stuff out of the front seat and got out of the car. He waved to Sophie as he made his way up to the front steps of his building. Once he got past the front doors and to the stairs, his phone buzzed.

S-

S- Does 8:15 tomorrow morning sound good for pick-up?

Matt smiled and leaned against the stairwell wall as he replied.

M- That sounds good to me. I’ll be waiting.

M- 

Matt continued his way up to his apartment, a little spring in his step.

Despite the moments of awkwardness during the car ride home, riding with Sophie was far more enjoyable than taking an Uber. She was reassuring when he was tense during the heavy downpour. It seemed like she had a similar taste in music as him. He hadn’t mentioned it, but he also liked the oldies that had played on the radio. 

Matt unlocked the door to his apartment and went inside. Boxes were still stacked against the walls, and a few showed signs of rifling. An old sheet was pinned over the living room window, a quick attempt to get some privacy. Some take out boxes were piled in the kitchen, nowhere near any kind of trash can. Matt had been so busy working that he hadn’t gone to a grocery store to get real food or ingredients to make food. 

After tossing his bag on one end of the couch, he collapsed on the other. He was much too tired to continue unpacking. He’d have to wait until to weekend to get that done. He found his remote and turned on the tv, opening Netflix and selecting a show he was currently binging.

As the show’s opening credits played, he opened the food ordering app on his phone and placed an order at Wendy’s, feeling the need for a quickly thrown together burger. Once the order was sent, he reached for his laptop from the end table and opened it. A photo he had taken of the coast in California shone back at him, illuminating him in the high brightness that he forgot to turn down. He had taken that photo on a last hurrah trip of California he went on the week before moving here. It was his favorite place in the world. Seeing this picture continually made him homesick, but he knew that he’d get over it, eventually. 

Matt began to look through folders on his laptop, looking for Minecraft. Hearing Sophie talk about Minecraft made him antsy to play again. Finally, he found it, buried in a folder labeled “old apps I don't use anymore”. He dragged the launcher to his desktop, then double-clicked the little arrow to open in.

Not playing Minecraft for a few years had one downside; it took  _ forever _ to open. It spent about five minutes downloading updates and a new launcher design. Once it was done, Matt looked at his username.  _ Its_Actually_Sans _ . He groaned. That was from when he was super into Undertale. He’d have to find a way to change that. 

The Minecraft menu screen soon shone back at him, a funny splash text bouncing at the corner of “MINECRAFT”. Opening the single-player screen, he ignored the miscellaneously named worlds and created a new one.

Once that world loaded, Matt spent the next three hours playing Minecraft, checking out the new blocks, commands, and mobs. There was soo much new stuff, he didn’t know why he stopped playing it. Once he had seen and tested everything new to him, Matt went back and opened some of his old worlds. Some were intricate restone creations that he had made following along with a video, some were building ideas he had, and a small handful were actual survival worlds. The one that caught his attention was called “i LIIIIVVVEEE”. It had been last opened three years ago, around the time he started getting busy at his job. 

Matt remembered what was going on while he worked on this world. When he traveled to the forest where he built his base, he was just starting to date this girl he had met in one of his classes in college. When he had built his massive, fully automated farm, she had texted him to come over instead, leading to the farm being built over several weeks. When he first went to the Nether, she sat next to him, complaining about how much time he spent on his computer doing schoolwork and playing that “stupid game”. Matt hadn’t reached the End yet. He had stopped playing shortly after they had broken up. 

He sighed and exited out of the world. There was too much going on there, he’d have to wait to finish that one. Instead, he started another new world and named it “I’ve got to *OOF OOF* run aWaY”. 


End file.
